I Just Knew There Were Stories I

Slavery Was A Long Slow Process Of Dulling.

Most Of What I Do Is Science Fiction. Some Of The Things I Do Are Fantasy. I Don't Like The Labels, They're Marketing Tools, And I Certainly Don't Worry About Them When I'm Writing. They Are Also Inhibiting Factors; You Wind Up Not Getting Read By Certain People, Or Not Getting Sold To Certain People Because They Think They Know What You Write. You Say Science Fiction And Everybody Thinks Star Wars Or Star Trek.

I'm A 48-year-old Writer Who Can Remember Being A 10-year-old Writer And Who Expects Someday To Be An 80-year-old Writer. I'm Also Comfortably Asocial -- A Hermit In The Middle Of Los Angeles -- A Pessimist If I'm Not Careful, A Feminist, A Black, A Former Baptist, An Oil-and-water Combination Of Ambition, Laziness, Insecurity, Certainty, And Drive.

People Who Want To Write Either Do It Or They Don't. At Last I Began To Say That My Most Important Talent - Or Habit - Was Persistence. Without It, I Would Have Given Up Writing Long Before I Finished My First Novel. It's Amazing What We Can Do If We Simply Refuse To Give Up.

I Think Climbing Mountains Or Buildings Or Whatever Has Been A Really Good Metaphor For Finishing My Work. Because No Matter How Tired You Get, No Matter How You Feel Like You Can't Possibly Do This, Somehow You Do.